[dropcap txtcolor=”#dd3333″ style=”dropcap1″]Y[/dropcap]our content is created and now it’s just waiting? Unfortunately, no. So that your content is really seen by your target group, you need the right strategy for your content distribution. What that is and how it works, I explain to you here by practical examples. So stay tuned.
Content Distribution – a short definition
The content distribution is a sub-process of your content-circulation. You distribute your content through various channels such as Paid Media, Earned Media, Shared Media or Owned Media.
Not only do you achieve greater reach, but you can also achieve your other marketing goals, such as building a long-term brand or strengthening customer loyalty.
Attention, risk of confusion! Here are a few terms that would like to be lumped together with Content Distribution:
- Content Outreach: Content Outreach is a subset of content distribution. In the process, the content should be given a wider range by potential multipliers (e.g. by well-known personalities or the media). Content Outreach is thus online PR.
- Content Seeding: Content Seeding often only refers to the company’s own channels, such as sharing content on social networks or the website.
- (Paid) Content Promotion: Content promotion means mainly the paid placement of content, such as advertisements, influencer co-operations or even native advertising in the editorial environment.
Why is targeted content distribution important?
Four million blog posts are published on the Internet every day (source: hostingfacts ). Why should your target group consume your content in this flood of content? Of course, the preparation of your content plays a crucial role, but even before the user can find your content interesting, he must first find your content in the vastness of the Internet. And you need a meaningful and targeted content distribution on the channels that your target group uses. Find out more about media types and channels below.
The PESO model – use different media types
Your content is finished and now you are looking for the right method for content distribution? Here you can (the PESO model Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned Media) help! It brings together all digital media types and gives you a first overview of the possibilities you have to distribute your content.
1. Paid Media
For the distribution of your content you can use Paid Media among other things. This is – as the name implies – the type of media you have to pay for.
These include, for example:
- Google Ads
- Facebook Ads
- Pinterest Ads
- Sponsorship Posts
Benefits of Paid Media
- Target group specific targeting
- high scalability
- immediate achievement of (potential) customers
Disadvantages of Paid Media
- limited to existing budget
- not sustainable
Despite the disadvantages, Paid Media is a useful way to distribute content. Especially if you do not have a lot of brand awareness, you can generate reach and traffic first.
2. Earned Media
Earned Media means advertising for your business that you have earned. For example, this can be a public relations campaign that media such as online newspapers volunteer to report, or your innovative video concept that a blogger writes about.
Benefits of Earned Media
- high authenticity and credibility
- free reporting
Disadvantages of Earned Media
- little control
- negative reporting possible
- difficult to scale
By the way, Earned Media is not just something for the PR department. Also for the search engine optimization this type of media is relevant, because so you can build valuable backlinks for your site.
3. Shared Media
Another way to get more out of your content: shared media. This means that users share your content in social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn or in classic forums. In the broadest sense, word of mouth is one of them.
Benefits of Earned Media
- high credibility
- no costs for shares
Disadvantages of Earned Media
- little control
- negative reactions possible
My tip: Make it as easy as possible for your users to share your content. For more read our blog post some social media plugins , with which you can spread content with a few clicks.
4. Owned Media
Finally, Owned Media is the fourth media type available for content distribution. This type includes all communication channels that belong to your company:
- Company Magazine
- Company profiles in social networks
- Newsletter
Benefits of Earned Media
- controllable
- measurable
- durable
Disadvantages of Earned Media
- less credibility
- depending on traffic
Inspirational articles, checklists or infographics – to get active on your own platforms, you have numerous options. In addition to all the creativity that you put into your content, you should not neglect the search engine optimization. It is one of the most important ways you can distribute your content.
Also Read: Does Writing Style Matters In Content Marketing?
3 tips for your content distribution strategy
Before you really get started with the content distribution, you should stop for a moment and make your strategy aware. The following tips will help you with strategic considerations.
1. Keep track of your goals
Switch ads just to switch ads? So a little bit of Facebook by the way, because that’s what you do as a company? So much I can tell you: That’s not a good idea. Think in advance exactly what message you want to convey and what goals you pursue.
If your goals are performance-oriented, it may be useful to focus more on your website. Owned media play an important role here. For example, you can use e-mail marketing and search engine optimization for content distribution.
If your focus is more on branding, you should give Earned Media more attention. And paid content can also contribute to brand building. But most often: the branding ultimately influences the performance.
2. Know your target audience and use the customer journey
What will help all your business goals, if the content is not geared to the user? Therefore, the user should always be in focus when planning and creating. It’s best to create a Buyer Persona. This helps you to gear your content even more precisely towards your target group.
If you’ve created a Buyer Persona, you should also think about the Customer Journey. In order to first of all draw attention to your brand and products, it makes sense, for example, to first rely on Paid Media. If the buying decision is closer, then content on the website can often be the decisive factor. Create relevant touch points with your company by using different media types for content distribution.
3. Monitors the results
Whether your content distribution is successful or not depends on monitoring. Watch the results of your content distribution closely and draw conclusions for your content marketing.
Best Practice Examples: How Content Distribution works
There are countless examples of how Content Distribution can be successfully implemented. I would like to introduce two ideas to you in more detail.
Content distribution with Pinterest
Pinterest can be used for content distribution in a variety of ways. According to the PESO model this could look like this:
- Paid Media: For some time you can use the platform for Pinterest Ads. This works in a similar way to Google Ads because you’re typing in the keywords you want to appear for. In my case I searched for “business”. The advertisements will appear in the middle of the search results.
By focusing on specific search terms, you can control exactly who sees your content. And best of all: unlike other social media ads like Facebook, your ad does not only appear to a user who is basically interested in the topic, but to a user who is looking for it right now. So you increase the chance to generate traffic through Pinterest .
- Earned Media:Achieving Content Distribution in Earned Media with Pinterest? Sure, that works! For example, when we report on your corporate profile to the Search Engine drive.
- Shared Media:On Pinterest you can of course not only share your own content, but also let them share. In order to animate the users, you can use the already mentioned share buttons. How this can look, for example,
Try out the best where you can place the buttons on your website, so that they are used. And of course pay attention to DSGVO-compliant buttons.
Owned Media: Another way to place your content on Pinterest is to give you a corporate profile. For example, you can pinned magazine articles and create bulletin boards on a wide range of topics.
Also Read: TOP 4 SIMPLE YET EFFECTIVE TOOLS FOR GENERATING CONTENT IDEAS
Content distribution in online newspapers
The online presence of newspapers and magazines is also an interesting advertising platform. Especially in topic-specific magazines you can reach your target group well, for example in parent magazines. Often, large dailies also have offshoots for individual themes and age groups.
Here are some ideas on how to use online newspapers for you:
- Paid Media:In online newspapers, you can not only draw attention to yourself with display advertising, but also with sponsored posts.
- Earned Media:If you implement PR and marketing properly and shine with new, innovative ideas, you also have chances of getting an unpaid article in an online newspaper.
- Shared Media:If your sponsored content has added value, it motivates many users to share your content. In addition, you can often book for such articles that the online newspaper also advertises your content via their social media profiles. So you can make it easier for users to redistribute your content.
Find the right mix
Even though I consider some platforms relatively isolated in my examples, in your content distribution you should focus on a healthy mix of media types (paid, earned, …), channels (social media, newsletters, …) and platforms (Facebook, Pinterest, …). put.
In addition, there are so many options: Do not lose track! Think through your strategy in peace and evaluate it constantly. And if you still have any query and need support in the conception and implementation: Please comment in the below comment section. I am always there for you and try to solve the problem with an exact scenario.
